Monthly Archives: May 2015

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Enzybel International will be present at the IFT2015 in Chicago/IL, from 12th to 14th July. We would be pleased to welcome you at booth #202

About Enzybel
Enzybel International is an international leading processor and trader in natural extracts for food, pet food, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Enzybel International provides innovative solutions based on a technological knowledge answering to functional issues such as plant derived enzymes needs: papain, bromelain, ficin and actinidin.

Enzybel’s head office is based in Waterloo (Belgium) as well as two manufacture plants in Belgium (Villers-Le-Bouillet and Hamme) and one in Indonesia and it also has sales offices in Belgium (Waterloo) and China (Enzymos HK).

To measure is to know, install blue sticky traps in your crops to detect thrips on time.

In this time of year we advise cucumber and gherkin growers in Western Europe to install traps in their greenhouses. “In the beginning of a new cultivation period, growers should hang these above their plants,” says Wesley Akkermans, Sustainable Crop Management Specialist at Biobest. “This is the place where thrips establishes itself first.”

Many pest insects like whitefly, leafminers and aphids are attracted by the colour yellow. Thrips, one of the most common pests in cucumbers, don’t dislike yellow, but their true favourite is blue. Moreover beneficials like parasitic wasps are not attracted by this colour.

The rule of thumb for blue Biobest’s Bug-Scan® traps is 40 per hectare of protected crops. To monitor the population evolution properly a weekly or two weekly thrips ‘check and count’ will do.

When thrips has been detected, it is important to react promptly with curative control measures, for example the introduction of predatory mites like Amblyseius swirskii and/or Amblyseius cucumeris. “If in the past thrips appear on a frequent basis, we advise to apply these mites as a preventive strategy” says Wesley. “Also in this case frequent monitoring remains advisable.”